The Department of Justice (DoJ) has sought to overturn former pro-democracy lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting’s acquittal on a charge of perverting the course of justice related to an incident during the 2019 protests and unrest. Lam Cheuk-ting. File Photo: Holmes Chan/HKFP. Government prosecutors told the Court of Appeal on Thursday that Lam had the intent to pervert the course of justice by demanding that a person, referred to as “X,” delete photos of protesters at a march in July 2019.
The DoJ is also seeking to overturn acquittals for Lam’s co-defendants: former InMedia journalist Ronnie Tsang, 28, and social worker Aggie Chung, 39.
According to case details read out in previous hearings, Lam and Tsang were accused of committing acts with the intention to pervert the course of justice by asking X to delete from his phone photos showing the faces of protesters who might have committed criminal offences that day.
Tsang was also charged with unlawful assembly and later jailed for 13 months, while Chung was charged with access to a computer with dishonest intent and criminal damage for accessing X’s phone and deleting photos. However, Chung was later acquitted after the prosecution failed to prove dishonest intent.
Intention to pervert course of justice
Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Ivan Cheung argued on Thursday that the District Court’s January 2023 ruling that Lam had no intention to pervert the course of justice was “counterintuitive,” online news outlet The Witness reported . The High Court. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Cheung presented to the court a video of the exchange, in which Lam said that “what matters now is to delete the photos with protesters’ faces.”
Although Lam verbally said that he wanted to help X leave the scene, he could also have harboured an intent to pervert the course of justice, Cheung told the three appeal judges.
X had previously testified that Lam did not force him to delete the photos and that he agreed the lawmaker was mediating the situation.
The prosecutor said the lower court erred in finding that Lam had no intent to pervert the course of justice. However, Judge Derek Pang said on Thursday that it was impossible to conclude that Lam had that intent, while Judge Judianna Barnes said Lam’s actions did not necessarily suggest his intent.
In response to Cheung’s argument that the three defendants invited suspicion upon themselves by being present at a protest, Pang said that this was not a rioting or unlawful assembly case, adding that he could not understand how suspicion could be inferred.
Barrister Hector Pun, representing Lam, noted that the lower court found no connection between Lam’s actions and any existing or potential legal proceedings. The prosecution at trial also failed to specify any crimes or legal proceedings, he said.
Lam’s acquittal could not be overturned if the prosecution failed to prove whether he had interfered with legal proceedings or had any intention to do so, Pun said.